A UK scientist. As well as a chemistry degree I also have an MSc in Polymer Composite science & engineering. I pursued a PhD in paper science (deinking)in the guise of a Research Assistant at the University of Manchester.I have many interests and always like to try out learn new things. STEM Ambassador and member of Board of Scientific Advisors for The Rutger Hauer Starfish Association (non-profit). A long term runner to raise funds for this organisation xxx

Saturday, 13 February 2016

This festival took place from Friday 22nd January until Sunday 24th January at MOSI, and I was there as a volunteer. I did 2 sessions the first being Friday evening which was a Light Fantastic LED disco. Initally I was on the front desk which I'd never done before so that was cool. Basically, it was meet and greet, taking tickets and handing out drinks vouchers. There were hundreds of glowsticks to give out too and whilst we wore some ourselves we were amazed at the creativity of the attendees. The disco went on until 10pm and there was a band which included a saxophone which glowed in all colours. That was something to see. At 10pm myself and another volunteer stood on the doors with buckets of sweets to entice people out lol. It was a great night and we all shared 2 taxis home. Although I had taken my camera I didn't actually have it physically on me so sadly I never got any photo's of this event. It was a great night I shall remember though. What a coincidence that a girl who works at the same place as me should be there! There was an installation at MOSI all weekend which completely amazed and entranced everyone including me. I got a few pix of that :) It was essentially a cube of lamps which on closer inspection I was stunned to see where only plastic disposable cups.Amazing! Each person is given a tablet which has a programme on it which controls the lights. Each tablet controls a different colour. You sweep your finger over the tablet to choose the direction of the light. When it hits a light of a different colour then you hear a chime. It is just a soft and gentle chime but could get quite melodious. It was lovely. As well as a few pix I managed to film it on my iphone.Apologies for the voices which seem to drown out the chimes abit. Still I hope you enjoy this as much as we did. I think I managed to capture it well.

This is what it looked like when switched off >>

Saturday and Sunday were pretty much alike and I hear it was very busy on Saturday. My second stint was all day Sunday. The PI had a vew things to see on the ground floor and to begin with the scientists on each stall were kind enough to tell me what they were doing. I got to see some moon rocks and meteorite which you can look at under a microscope. Also in the centre was a gaming area including Minecraft. I still don't know, which is stupid of me, what that has to do with light. I did learn something though. There were a group from Life Sciences Department who had an analyser worth £35k with them for looking at leaves to see which wavelength is most effective at photosynthesis. Like most people I took it for granted that plants use white light for this. It turns out that this is not the case, they actually prefer pink light. I was amazed but pleased to have learned something I didn't know before. My final photo is of this platform.

On this day I spent some of the morning here and some over at the power hall helpingkids make pinhole cameras out of orange cardboard rolls, back paper, duct tape, pins and lights. Then I was meet and greet for the Planetarium which sold out in record time which mean't that for the most part I was turning people away. This was the same story later on when I was in the temporay exhibit area. There were a few things going on there including face painting and making music with a laser beam. I just walked around seeing what was going on and directing people to the toilets. I was on queue control at the end though for the Light Graffiti eent which was ran by an outgoing guy who seemed to be having the time of his life. Then we all tidied up and that was the end. We finished around 5pm and I had managed to buy 2 pendants for myself at lunchtime from the gift shop. And we get to keep our hoodies :D Thank you to all who visited and to the MOSI staff for their great support. You make us want to help and I enjoyed it as usual. I hope to see you all again in March for the Wearable Technology Festival. Love Sarah xxx